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Using big data to link poor farmers to finance
The global growth of microfinance banks has created new opportunities for financial inclusion, with outstanding lending of $100 billion to around 200 million clients. Yet the majority of lending from microfinance institutions has been to urban populations and not to the rural poor or small farmers.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Finance
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Mobile Money Interoperability To Be Launched in Ghana On May 10th
The move by the Ghana Interbank Payment and settlement Systems (GhIPSS), Telcos and banks, was in response to a challenge thrown by the Vice President Bawumia, last year, for a mobile money interoperability to become a reality in Ghana.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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After downturn, Islamic finance eyes profits, fintech: survey
Islamic banks and insurers are focusing on profitability and new financial products as the industry shifts away from years of containing the adverse impact of low oil prices, an industry body said on Wednesday.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- North Africa & Near East
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Uganda’s Taxes on Mobile Money to Stifle Inclusion, say Financial Institutions
Proposed taxes on mobile money transactions are likely to negatively impact financial inclusion, according to a number of players involved in curbing financial exclusion.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Unitus Ventures Raises INR 100 Crore Towards First Close of Fund II
Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, Bill Gates, Hemendra Kothari and others invest again in India’s leading early-stage impact fund. Unitus Ventures to invest INR 5-15 crore each in ~30 startups in healthcare, education and inclusive fintech.
- Categories
- Investing
- Region
- South Asia
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Viewpoint: Saving financial inclusion
I need no convincing that society requires people to be part of a formal financial system in order to thrive, nor that exclusion, whereby products and services are not available or are unaffordable, needs to be addressed. But it feels like financial inclusion has been engulfed by a focus on payments and transactions that misses its larger aim.
- Categories
- Finance
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Viewpoint: Lessons from China’s mobile payments revolution
There is no disputing that China is ahead of the rest of the world in mobile payments. What insight does it offer U.S. bankers?
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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From New York to Madagascar: Why I Moved My Fintech Startup to Africa
“Everyone has a plan ‘till they get punched in the mouth.” That Mike Tyson quote rang true for Sidharth Garg, who was forced to go back to the drawing board after his Manhattan-based fintech startup's chatbot failed to engage customers. But that setback soon became an opportunity: Garg explains how shifting focus from the U.S. to Madagascar set the company on a new path to growth, in the latest post in NextBillion's "Course Correction in Social Enterprise" series.
- Categories
- Finance, Social Enterprise